11/05/2013

Google's newest gadget in town, that I ordered within a few minutes of its launch, landed in my hands a few minutes ago.

That was quite fast. But wait...

I turned on the device, and after a few clicks it wanted to connect to a WiFi network. So I happpily selected the access point that I normally use.

There comes the catch ...

My WiFi network has a secondary sign-on meaning after connecting to the network, one needs to open a web-page and enter some information. It's only after that the Internet Connection is established.

However ...

The OS hadn't finished the initial setup so none of the apps were available. There was no way to launch Chrome which made it a chicken and egg situation. How to sign-on to the WiFi?

Well... Here's the how-to.

There is a Terms & Conditions screen that comes right after you select the WiFi network. In it lies a door!

There are two hyperlinks on the T&C page. Click on of those and it should open ... your WiFi login page! Awesome, isn't it.

Not yet...

You cannot enter any text on this page. Buttons can be clicked, thankfully.

There's a way out...

Long press on the text field. That should open the Cut/Copy/Paste/Share controls. Click the Share button and select Gmail.

It's getting weird. Gmail! No internet yet, remember!

Android will ask for your Gmail credentials. Enter them NOT!

Instead enter your WiFi credentials that you use on the Secondary authentication page, all on the same line separated by a space. So, in the Gmail Id field you will enter
wifiuser wifipassword .

Long press on the text field and select+copy the entire text. Now cancel/go back to the T&C screen. Click one of the hyperlinks and on the WiFi login page that opens, paste the just copied value by long pressing on a text field. Your 'wifiuser wifipassword' is now in one text field. Once again, use the long press to split this text and user/password paste into their own respective boxes.